LOBELIA FAMILY. 



LOBELIACE^. 

 Spiked Lobelia. Lobelia spicata. 



Pound in pastures and waysides during July and August. 



The single, very erect stalk varies from 1 to 2 feet in height, and 

 is very slendei', grooved, and noticeably twisted ; its fibre is fine, and 

 near the foot it is hairy to the touch. In color green, with a trace of 

 red at the leaf. 



The foot-leaves are large, and a wide oval in shape, and set on 

 margined stems ; the upper leaves are a long narrow, oval shape, dimin- 

 ishing in size to a mere line, and are set immediately upon the stalk ; 

 the margins are irregularly notched, they are downy to the touch, and 

 light green, tending to yellow. Their arrangement is alternate. 



The small flower is 2-lipped, the lower lip being 3-parted with a 

 pair of swellings at the throat of the tube, the upper lip divided by a 

 cleft down the length of the tube ; all parts of the corolla are sharp- 

 pointed, and flaring from the 5-parted calyx ; the texture is fine and 

 smooth, and the color a pure pale lavender, faintly lined with dark, 

 white near the throat, and pinkish in the tube, the green calyx being 

 also tinted with pink. The flowers, on short foot-stems, are set altei'- 

 nately, and close, in a long, very pretty spike. 



There is something individual about the alert carriage of this plant, 

 its whole gestui-e is erect and animated. It grows numerously in 

 pastures, though in less close fellowship than its little brook sister. 



356 



